Florida
by aryaelvinsword
Summary: Moved/Copied over from 'Show, not Tell' to be continued. A collection of connected drabbles and chapters as the top Huntik Team is taught how to survive and thrive in a peculiar and wild forest in the heart of Florida by an isolated group of quirky Seekers. Updates will be sporadic. Shameless self-insert. You have been warned. [Team drabble introducing Marko is up!]
1. Teaser Drabble

_(_ ** _A/N:_** _Copied over from 'Show, not Tell' so that this stuff wouldn't continue to run into my DxZ drabbles. Updates will be way more sporadic and little to no timeline is fully established on the drabbles that I write for this story, so again, please message me if you have questions or leave the questions in a review so I can clarify in the next chapter A/N._

 _Also please note that Ket is a shameless self-insert. And despite the magic and the powers and Titans and the like, I've actually tried to keep personality, physical and verbal traits and quirks, and some of the anecdotes that she tells as true as possible. Even the shameful, embaressing or downright gross ones. Because honestly, once I hit eighteen I stopped giving a fuck about what others thought and holy shit it shows SO bad. Like 'did you wash that shirt?' "yeah probably. Maybe last year or something."_

 _Anyway, I digress._

 _Cheers mates!)_

* * *

 **Florida**

"This is _awful_." Den muttered to Lok, once again having to extricate his legs from a densely twined rope of briar. "I know everyone jokes that Florida is bad but this–"

"You'll get used to it." Dante assured the two younger Seekers as he passed them on the poor excuse for a trail. The ground was damp, nearly soggy with rain, and the thick leaf litter was hell for footing. Everyone but Lok and Den were doing moderately well considering though, and they were making good time through the dense hammock of trees and underbrush.

A barked laugh from the head of the odd procession rang out. Their guide spun around, bound ponytail flaring out at her waist. "That's bullshit, son. You _never_ get used to this!" And she cackled to herself quietly, shaking her head as she turned back around and mumbled to a mildly amused Zhalia at her side. "Get used to a Central Florida summer. Ha! Twenty one years and I still hate it." The woman devolved into further mutterings about the ways the local flora and fauna enjoyed inconveniencing her during the sweltering half of the year that dominated her state, bobbing her head back and forth.

"Why don't you move, then?" Sophie asked, waving a stick a few feet in front of her face to clear away spider webs that were still intact after the guide parted the main ones with her machete. "If it was that terrible I'm sure you would have gotten out of here by now."

"Because, my dear Casterwill, _I_ am a broke-ass-bitch." Zhalia snorted at this, and Dante cracked a grin. "Besides, there's no place like this place. The closest you can get for diversity is bloody Australia, and it's too dry there for me. Florida's unique. Special in it's own way, ya know?"

Den subtly nudged Lok with his elbow and whispered, "Like some of the residents…."

"Son, I will let you step on that Cottonmouth."

Lok frowned and halted, looking around nervously as he grabbed Den to stop him from taking another step. "On that what?"

Stopping the rest of the group, the guide sheathed her machete and slung a long tube off her back. "Just stay right there, yeah?" With practiced ease she drew a rifle from the tube and pulled a small magazine from her pocket, locking it in and chambering a round. "Don't…move…a muscle." With each word she crept closer to the two now frozen boys, eyes trained on the ground.

And with a surprisingly quiet but sharp pop a previously invisible serpent writhed in death throes at Lok's feet. He squealed and lept away, while Den let out a "Oh, cooool!" as the guide pinned the head and removed it, grinding it into the ground.

"Cottonmouth." The woman smiled broadly, lifting the dead snake by its thick tail. There was a wild, excited light in her golden brown eyes that was a little frightening in its intensity. "Also known as Water Moccasin. More popularly known as dinner."

Zhalia chuckled as the guide repacked her rifle and resumed leading the group. "This is going to be a good one."

Dante shook his head but smiled nonetheless. "If we survive it."

" _ONWARD, YE LOUTS! MORE FLORIDIAN EXPERIANCES AWAIT!"_


	2. Ch 1: Welcome to the Jungle

_(_ ** _A/N:_** _Considering my inability to have a long running story, 'Florida' will be in drabbles that are generally hard to follow and can only be understood if you've messaged me and gotten me to word vomit all over the reply. I'm going to try my best though.)_

* * *

 **Ch.1**

 **Welcome to the Jungle**

"I know I said I wouldn't freak out but _hooooolllyyy shit it's really cool to meet you guys holy shit!"_ A young woman shuffled forward with wide eyes. "Uh…yeah, hey. I'm Ket, your…guide? I guess? For this whole thing."

Dante smiled warmly and shook Ket's scuffed and dirt smeared hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ket. This is–"

"Zhalia, Lok, Sophie, Den, and Cherit is somewhere in a backpack I'm sure. Harrison not able to come?" At the incredulous looks she received, Ket merely shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I've been following all the news on you lot. Our group doesn't really do international missions so keeping up with your adventures is the most action we get."

"Harrison caught the flu. He's staying at HQ in New York while we train here with you." Zhalia explained quickly. She didn't like leaving either of the Fears brothers alone, but she knew he was in good hands with the Council. "Are you ready to get going?"

Ket spun on her heel and waved the group on over her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah! Let's go! We'll need to make a stop at the supply house before we head into the woods to make sure you have all the right gear. Oh, and sorry about the mess in the car. We don't use unless we're on a local mission and the dig equipment gets sorta piled up…. Don't worry! I made space!"

An hours drive later, during which Ket became happily acquainted with the team and chatted with Cherit about the concrete lawn gargoyle at the supply house she had named after him, the group arrived at their first destination.

"This is our supply house!" Ket threw her arms out extravagantly.

"It looks…nice." Sophie commented slowly. She wasn't used to the muggy heat that made her tongue stick to her mouth, but she also wasn't used to a random house in the middle of heavily forested nowhere. "Are we staying here?"

Ket shook her head and hefted out the team's gear. "Nah, this is just the place where we get some shipments, mail, store perishable goods, etcetera. My team cycles who gets to stay here for three nights every week or so, so we can shower and enjoy some real air conditioning, check the news and stuff." She ambled over to the side door and plucked a note from the handle. "Looks like Cor and Marko decided to go fishing for their days, so it looks like it'll be just us and Mama Cat. Ah, man! They left my stuff outside too!"

As Lok and Sophie helped their guide gather her backpack and other belongings from where they had been tossed out the door, Zhalia leaned against Dante's shoulder. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Metz said he needs a team that can respond to large scale missions in Florida." Dante's eyes scanned the surrounding brush, as if waiting for some Organization or Spiral goon to jump out. There had been rumblings of Titan awakenings throughout the state. Unfortunately, the Central Florida team wasn't a mission team but more of a specialized protective group that didn't, or couldn't, range far from their hidden HQ. "And considering the terrain and particular dangers, we need to be trained in non-magical survival for this sort of climate."

"You think they're all like her?" The ex-spy gestured to Ket, who was unabashedly swapping her clean shirt and jeans for a pair of ash smeared cargo shorts and what could have at one point been a white T-shirt. She was covered with the scent of woodsmoke and moist earth, and by the dirt caked under her nails and smudges that littered her arms, legs, and even face, it was clear the young woman hadn't showered properly in well over a week.

Dante didn't have an answer.

"Alright, alright, let's get this show rollin'!" Ket slung her pack and a leather tube onto her shoulders. "Two weeks in the Central Florida bush! Can't say you're gonna love it here, but at least you're gonna learn!"

"Does that mean we're going to be doing homework?" Den asked with an impish grin, holding open the gate at the side of the house for the rest of the team to file through.

"Ugh, God, I hope not." Ket made a face. "Come on, come on. Cherit, you might want to take cover in a backpack, those mosquitos will carry you off. Mr V, Miss Z! Hop to!"

"Don't call me that." The guide chuckled at the duo's immediate response.

As the afternoon progressed the team took more frequent breaks in their hike. Everyone was drenched in sweat, and the fact that they couldn't take a shower for the next week at least was not a pleasant thought.

To distract himself from the discomfort, Lok chugged the rest of his water bottle and turned to their guide. "So, why'd you shoot the snake?"

"Cuz it's venomous." Ket cocked an eyebrow at him. She was sweating just as much as everyone else, but appeared to be weathering it a touch easier. "Cottonmouths are pretty aggressive little shits. It would have hit you in the leg, and you can't guarantee a dry bite. It's what got my old man's leg."

Sophie put town her canteen. "Your father lost his leg? That's awful!"

Ket shrugged and waved a hand dismissively, batting away a trio of mosquitos as she did. "Eh. It's the way out here. Mama Cat saved his life, but he lost the leg. He runs the supply house now, so it's not so bad.

"'Sides, he was a total badass in the bush and a hell of a Seeker and still is, but he isn't a _balunu hitihuta_. You can't stay out here too long without being one, and our protections can only last so long. Lok, you look like you're going to bite your tongue off. Spit it out."

Lok grinned at her observation and rephrased his original question. "I meant why did you shoot it with a gun instead of using powers."

"And what's a blana hithula?" Den added, leaning in to the conversation.

"It sounds familiar." Cherit's head popped out of the youngest team member's backpack, ears perked up. "Was it a term used in Casterwill's time? Or is my memory playing tricks on me again?"

Ket smiled at all the interest. Even Dante and Zhalia were casually listening in, sharing trail mix from a bag the detective had brought. They had read the classified files before agreeing to the two week excursion, but wanted some clarification on the more nuanced and vague information they had seen.

"You can't use powers out here." Ket barked a laugh, tossing her thick ponytail back over her shoulder. "It'll get you killed!"

The group went dead silent.

"Oh _helllll no!_ " Den bolted up from his damp leaf seat, arms skyward in protest. "No powers?! No Augerfrost to cool down, no Boltflare when it gets dark, no–"

In a burst of motion Ket was up and diving at the younger Seeker, tackling him to the ground before anyone else could move. The canopy above was growing tight, the previously golden afternoon going bruised gray. Her palm silenced Den's protests just in time for the rest of the team to reflexively hit the ground in response to a deafeningly sharp crack of thunder from directly above their heads. In the distance, the unmistakable sound of a tree exploding from a direct lighting strike cut through the humid air like cold steel.

And then it was over.

Some light filtered back through the trees, but above the clouds still roiled in moody discontent as they did every Florida afternoon. Den's wide eyes stared straight up, eyes never leaving the swaying Jirwolf amulet that dangled from Ket's neck as she growled, "I told you, son. Powers. Can get. You killed."

 _(_ _ **A/N:**_ _Aaand that's enough non-team centric stuff for now. Pretty jumbled, my apologies. Cheers mates!)_


	3. Ch 2: Florida HQ

**Ch.2**

 **Florida HQ**

The last rumbles of thunder faded and the team cautiously rose to their feet, Ket helping the shaken Den up and brushing off his shoulders.

"Really sorry about that, mate." She apologized, knocking dirt from the young teen's sleeves. "I probably shoulda been a little more clear." The mirthful light had disappeared from her eyes, replaced with concern and anxiety.

"What on earth _was_ that?" Sophie craned her head back, trying to see if a flying Titan had been the one responsible for the darkening of the sky.

Dante picked up his gear as Zhalia did the same, the latter not so subtly removing a sizable hunting knife from her bag and strapping it to her waist. "I'm sure Ket will be able to explain better when we get to the HQ. Right?" The guide nodded. "Before we move, though, we need to know the limits as to what we can do here. If you would be so kind as to enlighten us…?"

Ket took a deep breath and swiped back the stray brown tendrils that had escaped her ponytail and rested annoyingly in her eyes.

Then, in a single rushed sentence:

"No offensive or defensive spells like anything at all no shields or shooty thingies and oh speed enhancement spells are kinda okay if you stay away from ones that enhance strength too so none of that Nimble or Shadow stuff don't use nonverbal spells to use offensive or defense stuff either it'll trigger it either way but passive spells like Headcage and Camoforge are alright I know Zhalia's had Headcage on since you guys landed so it's okay for sure if you don't know if it'll do something just ask okay Jesus that was one breath I'm dying."

The team exchanged bewildered glances as Ket braced herself on her knees, getting beaned on the back of the head by her rifle tube as it slipped down her back.

Some of the information wasn't new for Dante or Zhalia, but the extensive list of limitations was a little daunting. The loadstone on the island had made things difficult but manageable, so they all knew survival and success was very much possible. But then again, the loadstone didn't try to kill them if they even uttered the name of a spell without activating its power.

And then there was the until-now unmentioned _extra_ bits that the Florida Team came with.

"Wait." Sophie's eyes narrowed and she rounded on the grimy Seeker who was gingerly rubbing the back of her head. "How did you know Zhalia had Headcage equipped?"

Ket dropped her hand and shrugged. "I see things." She looked up at the roiling thunderheads above. "We have to get moving again. Sorry I can't explain more right now but you _really_ don't want to be caught out in a storm here. It's not much further, I promise."

They grudgingly set off again.

The air was feeling distinctly cooler now, and the treetops were beginning to sway. Zhalia quietly checked over Den, refusing to call it 'fussing' as she brushed off his back and patted his shoulder in a reminder that she would kill anything that tried to get to him while Dante watched the group from the rear of the procession. Up ahead Lok and Sophie had their heads together with Cherit, whispering theories and sharing information on what could have caused the local world to suddenly turn against them.

And at the very front the detective observed Ket striding along, appearing dead to the fact that the incident had incited murmurings in the group. She had lost the carefree bounce to her step and was silent, and remained so until nearly an hour had passed.

"Alright, hold up here. Gather 'round, gather 'round." The young woman plastered a smile on her face, wiggling her fingers to draw the team in. "I've got good news for you lot. We've crossed the boundary into our sorta HQ zone thing. You can use spells now." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, down the path they had yet to walk. "HQ is about fifteen minutes that way. You're probably going to see some animals and some new Titans. They won't bother you, so don't worry about them."

"Why does it feel like there's more and more Seeker magic the closer we get to your HQ?" Sophie cut Den off from asking a sarcastic question that would probably have made his adopted sister both proud and annoyed.

"Sophie, just chill, alright?" Zhalia sighed at the sharp look the Casterwill threw her direction. "It's safe. Dante wouldn't have let us come here if he wasn't sure about that. We got to see the classified files. It's Ket's job to explain everything when we get to the HQ site."

Sophie scowled, but didn't answer. To her left, Lok raised his hand sheepishly.

"Awesome. I love questions. Lok, what's your question?" Ket dramatically pointed towards the blond haired teen. "Oh, wait, before your question, Cherit you can totally fly free around the zone, I'm sure the local Titans would love to see a new face."

Cherit's tiny head popped from Den's bag, followed by his wings as he shot out and happily flew circles above their heads. "Sounds like a party!"

"You knows it, my friend! Alright, Lok, shoot."

Lok coughed awkwardly. "Is there a bathroom there?"

"You're in luck, son. The only plumbing we got out here is a single toilet. Don't hog it."

Lok threw up his arms in relieved excitement. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go to HQ!" And took off down the trail.

The rest of the group stared after him.

"Huh." Ket cocked an eyebrow and followed, albeit much more slowly. "Kid really has to pee. _Hey Lok! Don't startle the–_ "

A girlish shriek echoed through the woods.

"…Deer. Ah well."

The team rejoined Lok at the edge of what seemed to be a somewhat scattered group of oddly thatched, ramshackle and ivy covered skeletal buildings in the middle of the woods.

"Nice dance you have going there, Lok." Den commented. He seemed to be recovering from the scare earlier, obviously amused by his fellow Seeker's prancing.

"I couldn't find the freaking toilet, okay! Ket, _please_ tell me this is HQ and I'm just crazy for not seeing it because I drank a _lot_ of water on the way here and I don't think I'll be able to go much further." Lok sputtered, shifting foot to foot anxiously.

Ket chuckled. "Gee, mate. Never piss in a bush? Don't answer that. Yes, this is HQ, I just need to open it." She muttered a quick 'scuse me' as she slipped by Zhalia leaning against one of the buildings and brushed aside some ivy to press her hand on the bare wall. " _Aho pile!_ "

And suddenly the ivy was gone.

" _God_ -damn illusion magic!" Zhalia swore, lurching from the now whitewashed wall she was leaning on. "It's annoying when you're the one being tricked."

"Welcome to Florida HQ!" Ket bounded forward to stand in the middle of the rambling circle of buildings, throwing her arms out in a welcome that matched the crackling fire beside her. "Lok, latrine is that little shack, you can oh and he's already in there wow he's fast."

Most of the buildings were still old. The whitewash was faded and splotched with moss, but the doors and windows looked sound. The roofs were thick thatches of overlapping palm fronds, water tight and tanned gray. Some buildings had obvious additions, rough hewn poles made from oak half walls of fired clay brick giving the feeling that while the additions were manmade, the natural surroundings were still repossessing their land.

On the far side of the circle was an open building, only a rectangular thatched roof supported by oak poles. From the graying light that filtered through the now black clouds, Dante could make out the distinctly feline shape of a large cougar lounging and watching them.

He could also make out a dog-like form of the same size beside the attentive cat. But it was much too large and much too muscled to be any type of dog that he was familiar with.

A sudden bolt of lightning and an instantaneous crack of thunder gave him just enough light to confirm his suspicions. That wasn't a dog. But it wasn't any other animal he knew of either.

" _I didn't do it!_ " Den yelled, promptly receiving a smack upside the head from Zhalia. "Ow! Wait, this is just a regular storm?"

"Yep! Lok! Hurry up!" Ket quickly pointed the team to one of the low buildings. "That's the guest cabin! I'll meet you guys in there once I make sure Lok doesn't get lost." Thick raindrops began to patter the leaves above and drive through the foliage; impacting the ground hard enough to bounce chips of bark and set the fire hissing.

The team hurried into the cabin, Lok sprinting after them soaking wet. Thunder boomed above once more, and through the window Dante could only _just_ hear their guide yell out in the direction of the open building.

" _Lyx! Tee! Go to Mama! I'll see you soon!_ "

Through the white sheet of rain, two dark shapes lumbered into the cabin opposite theirs, the door opening seemingly of its own accord. Not a moment later their guide appeared in the doorway, slinging her pack and rifle inside and slamming the door shut.

"Whoof! That's a nasty one." She grinned wildly and wrung out her thick ponytail onto the smooth concrete floor. "It's official. Welcome to Florida.

"Make yourselves comfortable. We're gonna be here at least an hour. And I've got some explaining to do."


	4. Ch 3: The Balunu Hitihuta

_(_ ** _A/N:_** _You may be wondering throughout this chapter, "Wait, wasn't Cherit in this fic?" Yes, he was. And no, he's not with them now. As I slung myself into bed at 12:15 AM last night, I remembered that I didn't mention him at all in this chapter, swore for a bit, then rolled over and fell asleep. So how about we say that when Ket told him he could go say Hi to the local Titans he ended up hanging out with them till the storm ended. Because I'm terrible at writing Cherit, despite having a lawn gargoyle named after him._

 _Prepare for lots of dialogue. Cheers!)_

* * *

 **Ch.3**

 **The Balunu Hitihuta**

Rain lashed against the filmy windows, filling the low ceilinged cabin with a dull roar. Ket set down the last glass of water in front of Den, having collected drinks for everyone from the tank by the door before sitting down herself. Arrayed around an old oak table worn smooth from countless years of hands and meals, the team was waiting for their guide's explanation of the recent happenings.

"So…." Ket folded her legs under her as she sat and leaned her elbows on the table. "I'm going to be really blunt sometimes and really wordy at others. Feel free to push me for more or tell me to wrap it up, I'm quite known to ramble."

Dante gestured slightly. "We'll try our best not to interrupt. Please, take your time." He assured.

"Thanks." Ket bobbed her head in his direction, hair still dripping rainwater down her back. "Well, anyway. To jump right to the point, the area outside the safe house zone isn't technically of this world. This whole forest is an unstable seam where Huntik and our world overlap."

Her casual statement was met by a bit of commotion. Lok nearly choked on his water, and had put his head on the table as he cleared his lungs. Ket watched him with a slightly amused expression, deigning it enough of an interruption to halt any further speech.

When the teen was done he leaned forward eagerly, eyes bright and determined. "Ket, can people enter or exit Huntik from here? See, my dad is–"

"Oh." The amused grin fell. "Oh. I'm sorry, Lok. I'm afraid it's not that kind of seam.

"See, outside the safe zone, the world of Huntik is all meshed and woven into the earth around us. The Titans you see aren't _just_ essences like the ones in our amulets. It's farfetched to most, but Titans around here have the unique ability to actually breed, grow and eventually return to Huntik proper as energy to start the cycle again. It's similar to what gives my team and me our abilities. But no person who has any ounce of human blood in them has ever been able to push past the entwined ropes of our world and this pseudo-Huntik to reach Huntik proper." Ket cast her eyes down to examine the grains embedded in the table and added softly, "Not without dying anyway."

Lok slumped in his chair as Sophie put a hand on his drooping shoulder. For a brief moment there he thought he had the answer to all his problems, a way to bring his father home. But like all leads it was just another dead end, literally if Ket's last statement was anything to go by.

"We'll figure it out, Lok." Sophie murmured to her partner, gently rubbing his shoulder. "Maybe we can study this seam while we're here. It's a start, right?"

"Yeah…." The boy drew himself up again, gripping the table. He would always have some hope. Maybe the seam _would_ hold some answers for him. "Sorry, Ket. Keep going."

"It's fine, really. I should have remembered your father before I went blurting that out." Ket swiped stray brown hair away from her face again, gathering her thoughts after the slip up.

"So are you not human or something?" Den suddenly asked.

"Speaking of blurting things out…." Zhalia shook her head. Manners wasn't either of their strong suits, but at least Zhalia knew when to keep her mouth shut. "Den, we've got to work on that."

Ket just laughed. "It's all good. I'm human. But I'm sorta not. It's got a bunch of history behind it, but everyone on the team here are what's known as a _balunu hitihuta_.

"See, way back when Florida was populated by native peoples, the tribe that covered this area was known as the Timucua. They're the first ones that we know of who protected the seam from people who would cause it and the Titans and animals within harm. They were Seekers, at least most of them were, and due to the convergence of worlds here the priests and shamans who were dedicated to protecting this forest began to experience weird abilities. It became apparent that those who had the abilities couldn't leave for long periods of time without risking their lives, so they formed a protected village here by making a pact with what they believed were the natural spirits that resided in the forest.

"After a while the descendants that didn't have the same gifts left and western colonizers started taking over Florida. People got shifted around and bloodlines were mixed but the location of this forest and the zone was never leaked to those outside the original branches that left the woods. When a _balunu hitihua_ dies, their ability is transferred to a newborn that in the bloodline of one of the shaman's descendants, and the power is continued on."

"Wait, I'm sorry, back up." Sophie held up a hand. Although more spiritually linked and wired to the natural world in a different way, the very basics of this sounded very familiar. "You're saying that this _balunu hitihua_ ability is a bloodline power, like the Casterwill family powers?"

Ket leaned back a little and planted her feet on the ground, bobbing her head side-to-side with a low hum as she contemplated her response. "Yes…and no again, I'm afraid. If you could roughly translate _balunu hitihua_ from Timucuan, you'd get something along the lines of 'one possessed by the spirits for life.' Somewhere along the line of protectors, Titans somehow fused to the spirits of four of the shamans here. They passed on innate abilities that we have from birth. When we die, it's moved on to someone else in the descendant line, but it won't always be someone that's directly related to us." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of the cabin where the two creatures had disappeared. "Mama Cat was born in North Carolina, Marko was born in Spain and Cor was born in Norway of all places. I'm the only one in the cycle right now to have been born and raised here, but I was adopted from parents who lived who knows where."

The room went silent for a moment.

"So you're possessed?" Den asked cautiously, having flashed back to a few choice movies when the term had been brought up. It was an honest question. Even after less than a year in the Seeker world he was beginning to realize that the fantasy world of Hollywood and the world he got to experience were sometimes balanced on a very blurred line.

"I can't spin my head around and climb walls without Spidertouch if that's what you're asking."

"Oh. Okay." Mollified, Den sat back. "Good."

Dante put down his water, seeing the near predatory gleam in Zhalia's eye. She would probably be asking the poor guide rapid fire questions about the possible genetic links to Titans and Seeker magic later, but for now she was holding her tongue.

The detective had his own questions though. "I read in the files that you each have specific abilities particular only to yourselves. Is that true?"

Ket nodded. "All true. They didn't list them, did they?" Her voice had a slight edge to it.

"No. Not even in the classified files. Something about extreme risk if subverted to the wrong causes."

"Oh good. They took us seriously this time." The guide relaxed somewhat with an easy grin. "I'm sure you all are aware of how some Seekers, our present company of the Casterwill Heiress included, can sense magic and powers. If I'm not mistaken, your elders can even occasionally pinpoint and name the auras they feel after decades of practice, correct?" Sophie nodded, suspicion worming its way into her mind again. Casterwill related information was few and far between. "Well, not to brag or anything, but when I said I see things, I meant I can see powers, auras, anything magic related. And name them. Like…first try, no mistake, this is that, no ifs ands or buts."

The Team stared.

Ket stared back, comically attempting to bug her eyes out when the silence stretched too long for her current tastes.

Dante raised his eyebrows after the moment of quiet contemplation, impressed but skeptical. "That's rare. Titans and amulets as well?" He phrased his question carefully, wanting some proof of the young woman's claim but not wanting to sound offensive in asking for it.

Ket gave a somewhat sly smile, picking up on what he was truly asking. "Lok didn't bring his Baselaird on this mission. He's got Springer, Kipperin, Arawn the Hunter, and Stone Sage." She tilted her head in the direction of the Irish Seeker, stray wisps of still-damp hair falling in front of her forehead again. "Nice choices. Be careful about using Stone Sage around here. The only rock we have a lot of is limestone, and you don't want him tapping into that and making a sinkhole. Use Springer to pick up a trail back to HQ or Kipperin to get above the trees to find it again if you get lost."

"I'll keep that in mind." Lok returned Ket's grin. "That's a pretty cool ability! Can you see amulets through walls or traps? I thought only Castwerill Seekers could do that sort of thing!" He toned down his enthusiasm when he felt Sophie's fingers digging into his arm under the table. "I mean, your team is really lucky to have you along on retrieval missions if you can."

Ket shrugged at this, oblivious to the glower Sophie was shooting Lok from the corner of her eye. "It gets fuzzier with more layers of material. I can pick up the aura of amulets embedded in quarries when we look for fossils, but it takes some digging to know what it is." She pointed to her eyes. "There are four different abilities. I'm what the Timucua called their _Mucu_ shaman. It's clichéd and called the Sight. I've always had it and been aware of it as long as I remember, and since my parents were well connected to the Seeker group at the state history museum they figured out what it was early and helped me keep it under wraps.

"When I turned eighteen the Sight fully awoke and I started feeling the effects of being away from the seam. It was hell going back and forth from school and here every day until I graduated and moved in permanently."

"Everyone else in this place is like you?" Zhalia asked, finally breaking her silence. "The four of you?"

"Yeah. I know what you're probably thinking, that we'd invaluable if we took international missions locating lost amulets of powerful Titans and the like.

"Trouble is, with our abilities and our physical limits on how far and long we can go without returning to the seam, any chance of some group getting a hold of us and trying to force us to hunt Titans could be really messed up. And not just because we'd be leaving the seam and the inhabitants here unprotected, it'd be physically dangerous for us after a few days." Ket spread her hands out, remembering with a sour taste the first few symptoms the Awakening had put her body through about four days after her eighteenth birthday. "I'm talkin' fevers, spitting up blood, literally blinding migraines, even multi organ failure if we're out long enough. It starts out like having Dengue fever, then getting your wisdom teeth pulled without fun drugs and getting four dry sockets, following it up with necrosis and cysts of the liver with a side of lung flukes."

She glanced around the faces eyeing her with odd expressions after such a description. "I was going to major in infectious disease before I started showing signs of Awakening. I don't get to talk about it much."

Sophie scooted her chair forward, still rather interested in the effects of the so-called 'seam' on their powers. If it was possible to find a way around it, the first step would be to find out what caused the forest to react violently. "Is the meshing with Huntik what caused the reaction when Den started saying power names?"

Ket shrugged, but a glimmer in her eye showed her own interest in the topic. "That's a subject for debate around here. For one, when we _do_ use powers outside the safe zone, after _much_ preparation and plenty of padding, they're way more amped up. Our Titans can be summoned safely without consequence in the forest, and they're more powerful too. But any sort of aggressive power triggers a response like the one you all saw today, and just to be clear, that was a _very_ mild response."

The guide put her finger up, delaying Sophie's input. "Hold on, we've spent a lot of time around here talking about this and I never get to tell it to anyone new, so bear with me.

"If it was _just_ interaction with Huntik that causes this, then why would it be an adverse reaction? The mingling obviously supercharges our natural Seeker powers, indicating a positive association with Huntik instead of a negative one. Our closest guess is that it's latent Titan essences, ancient ones like the ones fused to our spirits, that were placed to protect the forest that covers the physical mesh of the seam. That or it's actual native spirits, completely different from our Seeker magic, who are coexisting with the Titans and want to protect the sanctuary that the seam provides."

Sophie was about to ask another question on the seam's stability when Den suddenly let out a massive yawn.

"Ah, jeez. Sorry, man." The teen shook his head vigorously. The rain and humidity had nearly flatted his usually spiked hair, giving him a bedraggled look. "Jet lag just bit me."

Ket laughed and pushed back her chair. "Hey, you all walked probably five to ten miles today. We never really measured the hike. Afternoons around here are usually time for a little _siesta_ because of the heat and the rain, so I'm not offended at all." She stood and waved the team up. "Come on. Enough chatter for now. I'll show you all the sleeping area in here, and if any of you wake up before ten tonight I might have some fried cottonmouth for you to try as a true Florida initiation. No pressure though!"

No one complained about the beds being hammocks, the plastic snap boxes for their bags, or the steady drum of rain sounding like grass brushes on snares through the thick thatched roof. By the time Ket darted across the muddy courtyard to her own cabin, most of the team was already asleep.


	5. Florida Team Drabble: Excoriation

_(_ _ **A/N:** SET 3-4 YEARS BEFORE THE HUNTIK TEAM VISITS. Aka, Ket's 18 in this one, and its only a few months since she started living at HQ._

 _I haven't written much of anything beyond some derpy chapter attempts for the main body of 'Florida.' Some of this drabble doesn't make sense without those derpy attempts, but it was rattling around in my head. I wanted to get Mama Cat [aka Cathy] and Cor put out there a bit. Marko will come later, I'm still deciding on things for him._

 _To explain the characters a little so they're not totally unknown, here's their basic descripts._

 _Mama Cat has the Touch, which gives her higher control and influence over general animals and Titans, though it's much higher while in the Woven Zone where Huntik and our world overlap. It also gives her an extremely powerful healing ability. She's based off a woman who practically raised me for quite some time, and as she's a mild cat lady that feeds the local deer I've given her story counterpart an 'animal attract' passive ability in a way. Animals and the Titans and Titan Hybrids [again expanded on in a derpy chapter] basically love being around her and like to chill around or in HQ due to her calming influence. She mothers the team, especially the younger Ket and Cor, but doesn't put up with their shit either._

 _Cor, fully known as Corando, is based loosely on a very dear chat buddy of mine from Norway. He has Hearing, which I'm still fleshing out, but he can understand any Titan and is learning to understand animals. He's the 'Hears things' to Ket's 'Sees things.' Rumors of Titans, plans, and even the whispers of the regular world and the spirits of the forest go through him. He's a few years older than Ket, and they're fast friends with a hobby of watching the worst [or best in the worst ways] movies they can find during their supply house breaks. His signature Titan is Ratosk, modeled after the large squirrel that runs up and down the World Tree in Norse mythos.)_

* * *

 **Excoriation**

Ket suppressed a groan when she finally gave in and opened her eyes.

The soot-smudged whitewash ceiling greeted her, as it had nearly every morning for the last few months. Nothing appeared different, but today was very much a different type of day.

Despite being unable to leave the hybrid zone forest to live a normal life like everyone else in her senior class, the importance of senior exam grades and overall class grades had been pounded into her head since _preschool_ of all things. She would never be able to attend university, even with one in the town closest to the forest and where she had grown up, but somehow grades still mattered in her mind.

Today was the day she would plod out to the supply house, Jirwolf at her heels for moral support, and receive her final transcript from the battered mailbox at the corner of the drive.

Ket was _not_ looking forward to opening _that_ envelope.

A bony fist banging against the door of her cabin drew a bleary glare. "Oi, Ket! Come on, Mama's getting ready to send T in here. It's nearly nine hundred hours!"

"It's just! Nine!" Ket yelled back at Cor's disgusting use of military time. Military time required math. Which she _definitely_ wasn't looking forward to hearing about when she opened that envelope. She seized the far edge of her hammock and hauled herself up, not bothering to toss a shirt over her sports bra and basketball shorts in the morning humidity as she snapped a hair band tight to her fresh ponytail and stumbled out the door.

" _Goddag_ , lazy!" Already bright eyed and scampy, Cor darted from behind the corner of Ket's cabin to enact his morning tradition of giving her ponytail a good tug.

Instead he recoiled, nearly tripping over Ratosk crouched behind him, with a cry of, " _Hava Faen?!_ What happened to _you?!_ " Ratosk chittered loudly. "She _does_ look like a fucking horror movie!"

Ket didn't even turn around to respond, choosing instead to trudge over to where Mama Cat was busy ladling out oatmeal in the Chickee. "This is my morning face, string bean. Not all of us can wake up as fabulously beautiful as you." She tossed a casual middle finger of her shoulder at a second round of Ratosk's rapid chatter. Even without Cor's Hearing, she could tell the squirrel-like Titan was slyly insulting her. "Jirwolf is coming out later, Rat. Take it up with him."

The Floridian hadn't given her Norwegian counterpart's reaction a second thought. But when Mama Cat jerked back with a gasped "Oh, lord!" when she handed the teen her breakfast, Ket blinked. Either she _really_ needed to brush her teeth with the mint leaves like Mama had suggested, or something was wrong.

"Jeez. Do I look _that_ ugly today?" Ket smiled wryly. This wasn't doing much to help her anxiety. Instead of answering, Cathy hurriedly set the bowl she had been offering Ket down and took her charge by the shoulders. "Wha– Hey! Mama!"

The North Carolinian looked Ket in the eye and gently pushed her onto the picnic bench. "Ket, I need you to stay calm for me, darling, and answer me as best you can. Were you beyond the safe zone last night? Did you go after those hunters?"

Ket tried to lean back slightly, a little disturbed, but Mama's grip was surprisingly strong. Cor had heard two illegal deer hunters wandering around and camping the very outer edge of the woven zone the other day, their buckshot–laden shells sounding like fireworks to his Hearing. Despite desperately wanting to scare them off, Ket had promised to Mama Cat that she wouldn't even go close to their camp, and she had kept her word.

"No! I promised you, and I'd never break a promise to you! Mama, _what's going on?_ "

Cor slid onto the bench on the opposite side of the table. "You're covered in blood and holes, that's what's going on! She thinks you're in shock!"

Ket's eyebrows shot up and she finally managed to jerk away enough to look down at her chest and arms.

In her anxiety clouded morning brain she hadn't even noticed that her arms and shoulders were covered in oozing sores. The pain finally registered and the teen could feel the sting of sweat in open wounds at the back and sides of her neck, all the way up to the base of her skull. She patted her cheeks and forehead, her fingertips coming back stained red with congealing blood.

With a frustrated and disappointed growl she hung her head and groaned, "Not again!"

" _Again?!_ " Cor and Cathy shared bewildered glances.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Ket waved them off and put her hands together in a prayer like gesture. "I just gotta use Everfight, they'll scab up."

Cathy swatted her hands apart and pressed her thumbs to the bloodied girl's forehead and bare sternum, uttering the words of her healing Power. "You, missy, have some explaining to do!" The elder woman snapped as the last otherworldly heartbeat faded. She shoved a dampened cloth into Ket's hands. "And some cleaning up!"

Ket sheepishly took the cloth and began wiping the blood away from her now healed skin. "Thanks, Mama. And sorry about that. It can happen when I get worked up about something."

"You break out in leprosy?" Cor cracked a grin, swiping the oatmeal meant for the younger Seeker. His Hearing was still straining to chase the last ethereal strains of the Ancient One's pulse, and in his 'half here–half there' state he missed getting the spoon into his mouth and managed to jab the utensil against his upper lip and nearly snort oatmeal up his nose. "Cripes!"

"Whatchya get!" The Seer across from him stuck out her tongue. "I have Excoriation disorder. I pick my skin. It's usually a subconscious urge and I give in to it when I'm bored. But when I'm stressed out it can manifest at night."

Cathy scowled and fussed over Ket's bloodied forehead with a cloth of her own. "And you're telling us this now? I could have given you a remedy to calm you down last night and avoided this whole thing."

"It's not exactly something I shout from rooftops. People think it's gross." Seeing that Cor had nearly mastered the finer points of feeding himself unaided, Ket gave him a devilish grin. "I think it reminds people of the oatmeal scene in _Braindead_. Remember that one, _dear_ _Corando_? With the mother's oatmeal? And the pus? Squirting into the bowl, and the people eat–"

The wooden bowl clattered to the table as the lanky Norwegian dropped it and nearly fell over trying to scramble to the brush outside HQ, violently emptying his stomach.

Cathy gave her youngest charge a disapproving look. "That was mean, Ket."

"He stole my oatmeal! And the leprosy joke wasn't even original. I heard much worse and more creative ones in school." Recovering her bowl, Ket tossed the remains of her bloody cloth into the firepit. "And _he_ picked that movie."

* * *

 _(_ _ **A/N:** Very s_ _hort but meh. I've got Excoriation disorder and I've picked holes into my arms and face for years. It's died down significantly since freshman year of high school, but it's a constant thing in my life and I've learned to adapt. Unfortunately most of my picking is done in my waking hours so I can't just blame it on my subconscious. It's too hard to describe so I usually just dump it into a story as a sleep thing. Whatever._

 _Do NOT look up that scene in_ Braindead _. Cor picked that movie to watch and even though I've pulled shiny strands of muscle fiber from my fucking forearm without even flinching [and hey, it's kinda morbidly cool in its own way. Very satisfying. Don't do it though. Terrible habit. Hard to break.], that scene made me gag. It still does._

 _In a weird personal twist, I'll tell you why I wrote this one because I'm bursting to say it. Fall semester is coming up fast, and although I'm two classes away from getting my AA degree in microbiology, I had a bit of a mental crisis this past week realizing that I didn't want to spend my life over a microscope. I chose the path because I wanted to work for the CDC, but after a very terrible experience with a university based hospital at the place I was planning to attend for both bachelors and grad school, I was done. And I was_ freaking. Out. _Like full on puking, shaking, 'oh my god, I've wasted so much time and money and life on this and I knew like a year ago it wasn't what I wanted and_ now _I grow the balls to say no?!'_

 _So, if all goes well, I'm meeting my advisor Friday to change my major. I just hope I don't go through this whole thing again when I get close to getting my AA in_ that _!)_


	6. Ch 4: Lyx

_(_ _ **A/N:**_ _As mentioned in the previous drabble, this and the next 'chapter' are kinda derpy and not well done. I wanted to introduce Lyx, a Florida Panther Titan hybrid based off my crazy Boxer/Ridgeback mixed dog Lexi. This chapter also delves into the Titan Hybrids that populate much of the Woven Zone, which is what I'm thinking I'll call the forest the Florida Team lives in._

 _Lots of weird dialogue in this one again. Mostly Ket explaining things._

 _Mama Cat and possibly T-Boy will be physically introduced in the next chapter, when I get around to finishing and polishing it._

 _Cheers!)_

* * *

 **Ch.4**

 **Lyx**

Dante sighed and looked up towards the hazy purple sky from where he was sitting against the guest cabin. Despite the sun having sunk below the trees an hour ago, it was only marginally cooler since the storm passed. The humidity was unbelievable, like trying to walk through warm soup.

"What kind of backwards place is louder at night than in the day?" Dante smiled as Zhalia lowered herself down next to him, changed from her usual jeans and jacket into a loose tank top and shorts similar to the ones Ket had worn for their hike to HQ. "This is ridiculous."

Dante chuckled his agreement, the cicadas practically screaming theirs. "It woke me up. Worse than a Banshee."

The two sat together in relative silence as the sun finished its journey below the horizon and night claimed the forest fully. As the darkness fell the screech of thousands upon thousands of cicadas increased, their shrieked song joined by the shrill chirps and warbling calls of the frogs and toads that had collected at the marshy puddles left by the rains.

Then the bellows and caterwauls of otherworld creatures a joined the fray. And the two Seekers marveled at the unexpected harmony the wild Titans brought to the otherwise discordant melody, the final touch to two worlds truly interwoven at the deepest level.

Dante moved closer to Zhalia, brushing the side of his hand against hers in question. She answered by leaning against his solid frame with a quiet sigh of contentment. Moments like these would be few and far between in the crowded cabin the team shared.

"What do you think about the things Ket told us?" Zhalia asked quietly, toying with her Gareon amulet. She wanted to summon him, just for the feeling of extra security in a new place and to show him the wonders of the surrounding forest. She was unsure of how the peculiar environment would affect him, especially in light of the things they had learned earlier.

Dante hummed softly in response, sharp eyes picking out the first few stars glittering through the drifting cloud cover above. "I think…it's a lot to take in." He looked down at his partner. "Still think this will be an interesting enough mission for you?"

Zhalia scoffed, looking back up to him. "There's plenty to keep us occupied at least."

The slight creak of one of the cabin doors opening drew their attention. Ket stepped out, snapping on the last of the four hairbands she used to bind down the length of her ponytail.

The guide waved slightly to Dante and Zhalia, who returned the gesture, before padding barefoot over to the cabin opposite theirs. She cracked the door open and exchanged quiet words with the occupant before opening it further to allow the large cougar Dante had seen earlier to slip out.

"Are you guys hungry?" Ket whisper-called as she rubbed the massive cat's head.

A handful of minutes later found Dante and Zhalia sitting at the long picnic table at one end of the open building. In one of her moments of rapid, enthusiastic speech Ket had called it a 'modified Chickee' that had been maintained and rebuilt in the same spot for hundreds of years. It was a gathering spot for the Florida team, where they cooked and shared their meals and planned out their daily activities and responsibilities.

As Ket set about rekindling the fire in the center pit, muttering about smoke repelling the droves of mosquitos as a trade off for the uncomfortable heat it provided, the cougar began investigating the newcomers to its home.

"Oh, this is Lyx!" Ket threw over her shoulder when she heard the soft intake of nervous breath that always preceded new Seekers being approached by the cougar. "She's pretty chill. If she rolls over onto her back she wants you to rub her belly."

Dante shifted slightly as the animal bumped her head against his hand. "Hello, Lyx." Unsatisfied with the lack of more enthusiastic attention, Lyx suddenly put her paws first on Dante's knee, then reared up and put them on his shoulders. "Whoa! Easy, girl. I'm taken."

From where he was now staring at the cat's midsection, Dante was surprised to see a slightly familiar gold trimmed, though mostly royal purple, armored harness that covered Lyx's chest. At the center, a green gem the size of the detective's fist glinted dully in the light of the young fire.

"She's a Titan." Zhalia stated, her own surprise only hinted at in her monotone voice. The Seeker reached over and ran her fingers through the fur at Lyx's tan neck. She grinned and scratched the cat's cheek when the Titan rumbled a purr and set her heavy head across Dante's shoulder to provide easier access.

Ket popped her thumb up in response, flashing Lyx's corresponding amulet on her left wrist as she added chunks of spongy wood to the flames. "That she is! She's not actively summoned at the moment though. We don't like asking the local Titans to use their powers unless it's necessary or they want to train with us." She turned around with the now smoldering pieces of wood to place beside the table just as Lyx let out a surprisingly bird like chirp and licked Dante's face from his cheek all the way to his hair, sending a stripe of it sticking up in various directions. "Lyx! Sorry, she likes you."

Zhalia covered her mouth, trying to hide the rather un-Zhalia-like giggles that were threatening to burst out as Lyx continued to groom her boyfriend's hair to her feline satisfaction. "Is 'Lyx' her Titan name or a reference to this little behavior?"

"A bit of both!" Ket chuckled and grabbed Lyx's harness. "Lyx, come on, you're not supposed to climb on people. There ya go." With a complaining huff the cougar dismounted her new friend and padded at Ket's heels to her cabin and back. "She told us her Titan name is Lyxari, and her sort of 'species' has been known as _Hiyaraba_ since the first Timucuans came here." With a flourish Ket set down two plates, one with the breaded and fried pieces of the cottonmouth she had killed earlier and the other with regular turkey club sandwiches. "The Titan hybrids around here usually prefer the names that they give themselves. We try to honor that.

"You don't have to eat the snake if you don't want to. Mama isn't too fond of me eating it, never really got used to the more interesting foods around here, but she always says I should offer it to guests if I have it."

Zhalia grabbed a piece without hesitation. This wasn't the craziest thing she had eaten, and though she had eaten snake before on various missions to the East, she had never tried an American snake before. Dante took one more slowly, open to new experiences but still a little cautious.

"That's not bad." Zhalia commented, using a knife to scrape away more strips of meat from next to the spine after giving it an initial taste. "A little more fishy than the others I've tried. But not bad at all, Ket."

"Aw, thanks!" Ket flashed the ex-spy a genuine smile, giddy with the praise. "I'm no cook, but per southern tradition if I can put it in a pan with oil I can cook it to an edible level."

Following Zhalia's example, Dante pried off a string of flesh from the snake's spine and tried it. It _was_ fishy, but a very light aftertaste of chicken lingered on his tongue. His partner was right, it was good, and oddly addicting. "Nice Florida fare. If we had these in Venice I'd have to get the recipe." He chuckled. "Not the strangest thing I've eaten."

Without missing a beat Ket chirped, "Yeah, I've heard you can be a little odd, Zhalia."

It went as dead quiet as it could be with the nighttime chorus in the background.

"Aaah, _fuck,_ I am _so_ sorry!" Ket covered her face, mortified that she had just tossed out a risqué joke at the expense of the second most powerful Seeker in the Foundation. "That slipped out! I've been living with two guys for years and this kind of banter is what I've gotten used to, I am _SO. Sorry!"_

Zhalia grabbed the young woman's hands and pulled them down. She looked her dead in the eye and said with firm conviction, "You and I…are going to get along _so_ well." A toothy grin flashed across the former spy's face. "Keep those kind of jokes coming, kid. And we'll be just fine."

Slowly, Ket's red face broke out in an equally frightening smile. "Oh this is going to be fun."

Dante shook his head. "I'll never understand you two." Still, he kept pulling bits of snake meat off his piece as he gestured to where Lyx now laid on Ket's feet under the table. "I know you're probably tired of explaining everything after earlier, but could I ask you a few questions about the locals?"

"Of course!" Ket sank her teeth into the fleshy spine of her snake and ripped the entire chunk of meat down from the vertebrae to the tips of the many ribs in a single motion. "It's fun to actually tell people about this place. It's kept so secret, even in the Foundation. What do you want to know?"

"You told us that the Titans here can breed and age. Are they somehow hybridized with the animal population?"

As Dante spoke the young guide fanned air onto the smoldering wood piece she had set on the table, releasing more smoke to drive off the mosquitos that had begun to close in. "From what we can tell and what the original _balunu hitihuta_ left us information-wise, that seems to be the case. They're Titans, but they're also animals."

Zhalia spoke up, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. "So when you say Lyx isn't 'active' right now, you mean you haven't summoned her using her amulet?"

Ket nodded. "Exactly. Most of the Titan energy that the hybrids have is stored in these gems they have locked to their bodies." She reached down and tapped Lyx's green gem with a blunt fingernail, giving the cougar a good scratch under the jaw to mollify her. "They can chose to take on their summoned Titan form whenever they want. They can also gift their amulet to Seekers, though I've never heard of them bonding with someone who isn't _balunu hitihuta_."

"Are they all based on the animals in the area, or are there any mythos Titans here?" Dante asked. It was a little disappointing to hear that the chance of him bonding with a hybrid Titan was slim to none, but the entire topic was still incredibly interesting.

"There're a few mythos Titans around. They don't show themselves often, mind you, even to us." Ket shrugged. "And just to make sure it isn't a _total_ surprise, but not _all_ hybrid Titans look like their animal form when they summon. Hell, T-Boy, he's the Titan that sticks by Mama like a freakin' shadow, we can't even _tell_ what he's supposed to be." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the cabin Lyx had slinked out of. "I say that because he _loves_ to pop back and forth between his summoned form and his natural form. No warning whatsoever. He can be all over you one second and then literally _over_ you, if he doesn't squash you with his summoned weight that is."

"We'll keep that in mind." Dante smiled wryly. Titans that could summon at will would be an interesting challenge.

Ket stifled a yawn and checked the battered clock that hung off one of the Chickee's posts. "Ah, jeez. Mama'd kill me if she knew how late I kept you guys up with all this yammering." She stood and stretched her clasped hands over her head, both shoulders popping sharply. "If it's alright with you, I'm going to head off to sleep. There's a cooler in the guest cabin by the water tank. You can keep the sandwiches in there for the rest of your lot to snack on."

Both elder Seekers bid their guide goodnight and watched her trudge back to her cabin. Lyx heaved her muscled body from under the table and plodded after her, swaying her tail in a surprisingly human mimicry of a lazy wave goodbye.

And once again the harsh melody of the wilds filled the silence, leaving Dante and Zhalia to sit in wonder of the forest around them.


	7. Team Drabble: Marko (Zen)

_(_ _ **A/N:**_ _For those not following me on tumblr, I've decided to change Marko's place of origin. Marko is now from Mexico instead of Spain, and is of Aztec and European Spanish descent. I used to do a lot of researching/reading on Mesoamericain civilizations, life and cultures, so I'm a bit more prepared for Marko this way._

 _You can find a further explaination of Marko's_ Balunu Hithuta _powers on my tumblr, username weirdponytail and post titled Huntik: Team Florida– Marko gets a revamp._

 _For timeline, this is when Ket is about 19-20 and Marko is around 29-30ish._

 _Cheers mates!)_

* * *

 **Marko (Zen)**

"Dude."

Marko cocked his head at Ket's approach. He had felt her wandering around the area for nearly an hour, each step of her bare feet on the forest floor blooming warm puddles of recognition and curling tendrils of her peculiar chaotic harmony with the Woven Zone.

"First off, _so_ not fair using that Aura Mask. Second, nice job practicing your stupid Aura Mask. Third," The _Mucu_ seer dramatically threw herself over the fallen oak that shielded her _Yanqualeno_ counterpart from the shards of sunlight beating down through the small clearing, thick bark digging into her bare stomach and ribs. "How the _fuck_ are you so zen right now? It's like…a hundred and eight degrees out. I'm dyin' here, man! Cor went and melted! T-Boy can't keep his form for more than five minutes! You're unnatural!"

Marko smiled gently, eyes still closed. "I am the Timucuan embodiment of the human sense of physical balance and spiritual harmony." He cracked open one dark eye to observe his teammate in obvious amusement. "Yet you still can't accept that my 'being zen' is a part of my _Balunu Hithuta_ power?"

"My money is still on copious amounts of pot. I know you have a stash somewhere." Ket reached out and poked Marko's rich caramel shoulder, trying to push him over. True to his ability, he stayed firm and perfectly balanced in his lotus position. "Come onnnn. Shaaaare."

"Ketten, you have never smoked. You've sworn you never will."

The Seer screwed up her face at the use of her full name and tipped forward to tumble from where she lay draped over the oak. She landed heavily on her back next to the elder _Balunu Hithuta,_ bits of leaf and dirt sticking to her sweaty skin. There was a certain temperature that heralded the whole Florida team forgoing shirts in favor of sports bras and bare skin. It was just too damn hot out.

"Urgh, yeah. I know. But if I didn't have any morals or ethics think about the money we could make." Ket grinned one of her wildly toothy grins and stretched her arms up in a vain attempt to trail her fingers across the unreachable canopy above. "Too bad I'm a fucking saint."

Marko closed his eyes again, the smile tugging at his lips. "Be careful with that phrase, Ketten."

"Mister Marko, I have _perfect_ vocal grammar." Ket threw a twig at her companion before rolling up into a sitting position. After taking a moment to examine and then copy Marko's lotus form, Ket squared her shoulders. "Alright, Zen master. Let's get this meditation thing over with."

The _Yanqualeno_ shaman straightened his back and folded his hands into the Ajna Mudra, feeling the sudden surge of Ket's harmonic energy within the Zone as she did the same. Her Sight was growing steadily with each session, stretching further and further into the world.

"Take a deep breath…"


End file.
